Page 48 of You Make Me Feel

When she turned to me, I nearly swallowed my tongue. She frowned instantly, leaving Oliver confused. “What’s up? Y’all know each other?” he asked her.

“Yeah. She and her girl practically attacked me and Robert in the club awhile ago. Robert said he didn’t even know them like that, and they had him confused.”

Oliver looked over at me as I slowly shook my head. His cousin was a gullible-ass bitch. “He’s lying. He was engaged to my friend, Ramsey. I don’t think she would mistake what her fiancé looks like. You are not the main chick. I mean, you may be now since she broke it off, but you weren’t then.”

She frowned harder, and I could see this would not be a great dinner. The other ladies were looking on in confusion. Finally, the one that looked familiar said, “Shiiiid, that sounds like some mess I would have been involved in back in the day.”

She chuckled as Sidney nudged her. “Umm . . . Kinisha, this is my sister, Sonya, and my sister-in-law, Ericka.”

I smiled at them as I realized that I knew who Sonya was. She used to be a CoverGirl model. She was also a model for Louboutin and a video vixen back in the day.

“Nice to meet both of you,” I responded, hating that I wouldn’t get to converse more with Sonya, the sister-in-law Mr. Taylor had said was off the chain.

I glanced up at Oliver, and he looked pissed and embarrassed. This was the second time my behavior had embarrassed him. “I’m sorry, Oliver. I’ll go outside until you eat. When you finish, you can take me home.”

Before he could say a word, I walked out of the door. Devin, Shawn, WJ, and now Corey were looking at me, probably trying to figure out where I was going. I couldn’t believe this shit. It was such a small fucking world. I sat on the patio furniture as they continued to stare at me. Mr. Taylor walked over and asked, “Everything okay?”

“No. My girl, Ramsey, and I had a run-in with Anise in the club. She’s dating my friend’s fiancé . . . well, ex-fiancé now.”

Before Mr. Taylor could respond, someone said, “What’s up, everybody?”

I almost came unglued when I turned around and saw Robert’s ass. He looked like he’d seen a ghost when he looked at me. All eyes were on him to see what he would do. For a minute, he looked like he wanted to jet. Instead, he made his way inside. “He bold as shit,” Shawn said.

“Damn right. When I would have seen Kinisha, I would have made a U-turn quick as hell,” Corey added.

They started cracking jokes about the situation, but it was far from funny. My friend was still suffering from the effects of his betrayal. There was no loud talking, so I assumed everything was okay inside. Oliver hadn’t come out, and I didn’t know if he would. I took my phone from my purse and called Kiana.

“Hey. Can you come get me?”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain it when you get here.”

I gave her the address, and she told me she would arrive in a few minutes. When I ended the call, I huffed. I was suddenly nauseated, so I went to the other side of the garage and regurgitated. I hadn’t thrown up in a week, but this situation had my stomach so damn nervous. I didn’t know how Oliver and I would go on from here. Anise was the only family he had here in Beaumont. Maybe I wasn’t the one for him. It seemed I was always doing something to fuck up.

After I finished throwing up, Devin stood there with a water bottle. I smiled slightly at him, rinsed my mouth out, and then drank some. “Thank you, Mr. Taylor.”

He rolled his eyes, but I couldn’t even laugh. When I saw Kiana turn in the driveway, I was glad to be leaving. I grabbed my phone and sent Oliver a text. I didn’t want to go inside and make even more of a scene than I already had. Kiana is here to pick me up. I hope to talk to you soon.

I smiled slightly at Mr. Taylor and made my way to her car. When I got in, my phone started ringing. I thought it would be Oliver, but it was my mother. “Hey, Ki. Thanks for coming,” I said.

I went to my phone and answered. “Hello?”

“Umm . . . Nisha, I think you need to get here now. Jarod is here saying some awful things about you, and I think it would be best if you were here to help us understand what he’s talking about.”

Fuck!“On my way.”

I ended the call, and the tears cascaded down my cheeks. Everything seemed to be falling apart. Kiana grabbed my hand and asked, “Nisha, what’s going on? You’re making me cry.”

“Ki, way too much is going on, and I only want to explain it once. However, I’ll tell you what happened at Oliver’s cousin’s house. When we arrived, and he introduced me to everyone, I realized his cousin was the woman Ramsey and I had gotten into an altercation with at the club.”

“Y’all were fighting at the club?”

“His cousin was with Ramsey’s fiancé. We didn’t really fight her. We were trying to fight him. Ramsey grabbed her by her hair and threw her to the floor because she was sitting on his lap, tonguing him down. You know that’s our signature move for these bitches.”

“Oh my God, Nisha. What did Oliver say?”

“He didn’t say a word. Anise is still seeing Robert. He told her we were delusional and that Ramsey was lying. She believed him. So, obviously, she wasn’t that happy about seeing me, although I never touched her. I could tell Oliver was angry and probably embarrassed. This is the second time I’ve embarrassed him. I got in a fight in Houston at All-Star Weekend.”

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